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Acwa signs joint development agreement with PT GARAM for Indonesia's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt project

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Acwa signs joint development agreement with PT GARAM for Indonesia's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt project
Business

Business

Acwa signs joint development agreement with PT GARAM for Indonesia's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt project

2026-08-12 19:23 Last Updated At:19:45

  • Approximately USD 400 million project designed to produce around 62,500 cubic meters of desalinated water per day and 500,000 tons of high-purity industrial salt a year
  • Advances Indonesia's water and industrial-salt security in a single integrated facility at Manyar, Gresik, East Java
  • Joint development agreement signed at Danantara's office in Jakarta and witnessed by H.E. Rosan Roeslani, Chief Executive Officer of Danantara, and Minister of Investment of the Republic of Indonesia
  • JAKARTA, Indonesia and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi-listed Acwa (formerly ACWA Power), the world's largest private water desalination company, a leader in the energy transition, and a first mover into green hydrogen at scale, has signed a Joint Development Agreement with PT GARAM, Indonesia's state-owned salt enterprise, to develop the country's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt production facility.

    The agreement was signed by Abraham Mose, President Director of PT GARAM, and Tim Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of PT Acwa Power Indonesia, at Danantara's office in Jakarta and witnessed by H.E. Rosan Roeslani, Chief Executive Officer of Danantara and Minister of Investment of the Republic of Indonesia. Planned for Manyar in Gresik, East Java, and valued at approximately USD 400 million, the facility will combine a seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant with an integrated salt production line, producing around 62,500 cubic meters of desalinated water per day and approximately 500,000 tons of high-purity industrial salt a year.

    Dr. Samir J. Serhan, Chief Executive Officer of Acwa, said: "Indonesia is an important growth market for Acwa, and this agreement represents another step in our commitment to supporting the country's long-term water and industrial needs. By combining our expertise in large-scale seawater desalination with the production of high-purity industrial salt, we have an opportunity to deliver an integrated solution that strengthens water security while supporting Indonesia's ambition to increase domestic salt production. We look forward to working closely with PT GARAM and Danantara to advance this important project."

    The project is designed on a Build-Own-Operate basis and will be developed through a project company established in Indonesia, using a limited or non-recourse project financing structure anchored in the project's own cash flows. Indonesia currently imports more than 4 million tons of industrial salt a year, with demand expected to rise to more than 7.7 million tons by 2028. By recovering high-purity salt as a co-product of the desalination brine-management process, the Gresik facility is designed to increase domestic salt supply while providing a reliable source of desalinated water for industrial use. The project also creates the potential, subject to feasibility, to recover additional marine minerals from the same process.

    Abraham Mose, President Director of PT GARAM, said: "The signing of this Joint Development Agreement marks a significant milestone for PT GARAM in building a salt industry that is more modern, efficient, and competitive. This enables Indonesia to increase salt production capacity while also building an industrial ecosystem that integrates desalination technology, industrial salt production, energy efficiency, and the potential for developing other marine minerals. Technology and knowledge transfer are central to this collaboration, and our aim is to ensure that Indonesia has world-scale production facilities alongside the workforce capable of operating and developing them sustainably."

    Tim Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of PT Acwa Power Indonesia, said: "This is a strong foundation for developing an integrated solution tailored to Indonesia's needs. Combining desalinated water and high-purity industrial salt production within a single facility creates the potential to address two important national priorities at once. Our focus will now be on working closely with PT GARAM to progress the project responsibly and establish the foundations for its successful long-term development."

    Under the agreement, Acwa will contribute its experience in desalination project development, technology selection, technical design, financing structure, engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as long-term operations and maintenance. The collaboration also includes knowledge and technology transfer, training, and the sharing of operating protocols with personnel from PT GARAM and the project company. PT GARAM will lead site readiness and project access, permitting, and stakeholder coordination in Indonesia, and the development of markets and commercial channels for the facility's output.

    Acwa holds more than 98 GW of global power capacity, including more than 52 GW of renewable energy, and is the world's largest private water desalination company. Its global experience in developing, financing, constructing, and operating large-scale water and power infrastructure, together with its growing presence in Indonesia, positions the company to support the country's long-term demand for reliable and sustainable water solutions.

    About Acwa

    Acwa (TADAWUL: 2082) is a Saudi-listed company and the world's largest private water desalination company, the first mover into green hydrogen, and a leader in the global energy transition. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Acwa employs over 4,000 people and is currently present in 16 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. As of July 2026, Acwa's portfolio comprises 111 assets in operation, advanced development, or under construction, representing SAR 475 billion / USD 127 billion of assets under management and the capacity to generate 98.2 GW of power (of which 52.3 GW is renewables) and manage 9.7 million m³/day of desalinated water. The energy and water capacity generated by Acwa's assets is delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long-term, off-taker contracts under utility services outsourcing and public-private partnership models.

    Learn more: www.acwapower.com 

     

JAKARTA, Indonesia and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi-listed Acwa (formerly ACWA Power), the world's largest private water desalination company, a leader in the energy transition, and a first mover into green hydrogen at scale, has signed a Joint Development Agreement with PT GARAM, Indonesia's state-owned salt enterprise, to develop the country's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt production facility.

The agreement was signed by Abraham Mose, President Director of PT GARAM, and Tim Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of PT Acwa Power Indonesia, at Danantara's office in Jakarta and witnessed by H.E. Rosan Roeslani, Chief Executive Officer of Danantara and Minister of Investment of the Republic of Indonesia. Planned for Manyar in Gresik, East Java, and valued at approximately USD 400 million, the facility will combine a seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant with an integrated salt production line, producing around 62,500 cubic meters of desalinated water per day and approximately 500,000 tons of high-purity industrial salt a year.

Dr. Samir J. Serhan, Chief Executive Officer of Acwa, said: "Indonesia is an important growth market for Acwa, and this agreement represents another step in our commitment to supporting the country's long-term water and industrial needs. By combining our expertise in large-scale seawater desalination with the production of high-purity industrial salt, we have an opportunity to deliver an integrated solution that strengthens water security while supporting Indonesia's ambition to increase domestic salt production. We look forward to working closely with PT GARAM and Danantara to advance this important project."

The project is designed on a Build-Own-Operate basis and will be developed through a project company established in Indonesia, using a limited or non-recourse project financing structure anchored in the project's own cash flows. Indonesia currently imports more than 4 million tons of industrial salt a year, with demand expected to rise to more than 7.7 million tons by 2028. By recovering high-purity salt as a co-product of the desalination brine-management process, the Gresik facility is designed to increase domestic salt supply while providing a reliable source of desalinated water for industrial use. The project also creates the potential, subject to feasibility, to recover additional marine minerals from the same process.

Abraham Mose, President Director of PT GARAM, said: "The signing of this Joint Development Agreement marks a significant milestone for PT GARAM in building a salt industry that is more modern, efficient, and competitive. This enables Indonesia to increase salt production capacity while also building an industrial ecosystem that integrates desalination technology, industrial salt production, energy efficiency, and the potential for developing other marine minerals. Technology and knowledge transfer are central to this collaboration, and our aim is to ensure that Indonesia has world-scale production facilities alongside the workforce capable of operating and developing them sustainably."

Tim Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of PT Acwa Power Indonesia, said: "This is a strong foundation for developing an integrated solution tailored to Indonesia's needs. Combining desalinated water and high-purity industrial salt production within a single facility creates the potential to address two important national priorities at once. Our focus will now be on working closely with PT GARAM to progress the project responsibly and establish the foundations for its successful long-term development."

Under the agreement, Acwa will contribute its experience in desalination project development, technology selection, technical design, financing structure, engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as long-term operations and maintenance. The collaboration also includes knowledge and technology transfer, training, and the sharing of operating protocols with personnel from PT GARAM and the project company. PT GARAM will lead site readiness and project access, permitting, and stakeholder coordination in Indonesia, and the development of markets and commercial channels for the facility's output.

Acwa holds more than 98 GW of global power capacity, including more than 52 GW of renewable energy, and is the world's largest private water desalination company. Its global experience in developing, financing, constructing, and operating large-scale water and power infrastructure, together with its growing presence in Indonesia, positions the company to support the country's long-term demand for reliable and sustainable water solutions.

About Acwa

Acwa (TADAWUL: 2082) is a Saudi-listed company and the world's largest private water desalination company, the first mover into green hydrogen, and a leader in the global energy transition. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Acwa employs over 4,000 people and is currently present in 16 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. As of July 2026, Acwa's portfolio comprises 111 assets in operation, advanced development, or under construction, representing SAR 475 billion / USD 127 billion of assets under management and the capacity to generate 98.2 GW of power (of which 52.3 GW is renewables) and manage 9.7 million m³/day of desalinated water. The energy and water capacity generated by Acwa's assets is delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long-term, off-taker contracts under utility services outsourcing and public-private partnership models.

Learn more: www.acwapower.com 

 

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Acwa signs joint development agreement with PT GARAM for Indonesia's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt project

Acwa signs joint development agreement with PT GARAM for Indonesia's first utility-scale integrated seawater desalination and industrial salt project

Industrial AI platform will connect primary emissions data to operating entities and trading desks in oil, gas and metals across Trafigura's global portfolio

AMSTERDAM, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Context Labs B.V. ("Context Labs"), the industrial AI infrastructure company, today announced three connected transactions with Trafigura PTE Ltd ('Trafigura'): the acquisition of Agora (Europe) Limited and its Kinertic carbon-intelligence platform, developed by Trafigura; a strategic equity investment by Trafigura in Context Labs; and a multi-year master services and platform license agreement under which Trafigura will deploy the combined platform across its commodity trading desks, including oil, gas, and metals.

Kinertic provides commodity producers, traders and buyers with a carbon intelligence platform integrated into their existing systems, connected with trade capture systems to map flows, aggregate portfolios, and generate regulatory and customer reports. By bringing Kinertic into the Context Labs AI solution family and connecting it to its trusted data infrastructure, traders will be able to see price, volume, logistics, and trusted carbon metrics in a single environment, directly in the tools they already use. With the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in its definitive phase, default emissions values translate directly into cost on every in-scope cargo. As the EU Methane Regulation moves from reporting to enforcement, methane intensity becomes a market-access prerequisite for gas, LNG, and oil flowing into the EU. Verified, trade-specific carbon data is now a procurement and trading requirement, not a reporting afterthought.

As part of the transaction:

  • Context Labs has acquired Agora (Europe) Limited, the Trafigura subsidiary that owns and operates the Kinertic platform.
  • Trafigura has separately made a strategic equity investment in Context Labs to support continued platform development and integration of the Kinertic capabilities.
  • Context Labs and Trafigura have entered into a multi-year platform license agreement with Trafigura to license the platform across multiple commodity trading desks.

Context Labs provides the digital trust infrastructure to reliably monitor and calculate carbon-intensity data for commodities; from production through transport to end-market. Context Labs makes industrial AI and carbon programs trusted, by turning raw inputs into governed, audit-ready outputs that create measurable enterprise value in compliance and commercial markets.

"The opportunity isn't in generating more data, it's in bringing context to the data our customers already have," said Dan Harple, Founder and CEO of Context Labs. "Where others see disconnected datasets, we see the foundation for a new intelligence layer. By bringing Kinertic together with Context Labs AI and our asset-grade data infrastructure, we turn fragmented inputs into connected, verifiable knowledge, so every output is traceable to source, reproducible in process, and credible to inform pricing, manage risk, and guide capital allocation."

"Carbon is now a core dimension of market risk and opportunity," said Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading at Trafigura. "Our traders need the same level of accuracy on emissions that they have on price and logistics. Trafigura has been privileged to support Kinertic's evolution into an industry-leading carbon reporting and analytics platform since inception. We are confident that Context Labs will build on that strong foundation and drive the platform's continued growth." 

"This combination is about moving carbon from a reporting exercise into a core market signal," said Pelle Sommansson, CEO and Co-founder of Kinertic. "Together with Context Labs, we are enabling a new level of transparency, where carbon intensity becomes a trusted, measurable attribute in how energy is valued and traded."

For commodity producers, traders, financiers and buyers, the combined Context Labs–Kinertic offering delivers:

  • Carbon-informed trading: portfolio analytics, trade-flow builders, and reports that quantify carbon and methane intensity across the commodity value chain, enabling differentiated pricing, structured deals, and improved hedging.
  • Industrial AI at scale: an AI-ready, provenance-rich data layer that connects IoT, operational, third-party, and certification data into a single emissions and attributes layer.
  • Regulatory and reporting readiness: standardized, auditable outputs for EU Methane Regulation, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and other relevant disclosure regimes, including end-to-end product carbon footprint reporting.

About Context Labs BV

Context Labs is an enterprise data infrastructure platform that transforms complex data into continuously proven information. Its AI-enabled software helps industrial organizations turn fragmented operational and emissions data into trusted, auditable, and decision-ready intelligence for carbon management, compliance, and commercial use. The company was formed out of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) research and is led by a team that has been instrumental in the at-scale growth of the Internet through prior companies. Context Labs is located in Amsterdam, Cambridge, Mass., and Houston. Learn more at www.contextlabs.com

About Trafigura

Trafigura provides critical resources to the world. Founded over 30 years ago and owned by its employees, the Group is at the heart of global supply, using its deep understanding of commodity markets to make supply chains more efficient, secure and sustainable.

Working across a global network, the Group deploys infrastructure, logistics, financing and market expertise to move energy and commodities from where they are produced to where they are needed. By connecting producers and consumers, we bring resilience and trust to complex supply chains.

The business supplies the energy and commodities the world needs today, including oil and petroleum products, metals and minerals, gas and power, while investing in lower-carbon solutions for the future.

The Trafigura Group also comprises industrial assets and operating businesses including multi-metals producer Nyrstar, fuel storage and distribution company Puma Energy, fuel supplier and distributor Greenergy, and the Impala Terminals joint venture. The Group employs approximately 14,500 people, of which more than 1,400 are shareholders, and operates in over 150 countries.

Visit: www.trafigura.com

Media Contact

Organization: Context Labs
Email: press@contextlabs.com
Phone: 1-617-902-0932
Web: contextlabs.com/resources

** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **

Context Labs Enters Multi-Year Agreement with Trafigura and Acquires Kinertic to Power Carbon-Informed Commodities Trading

Context Labs Enters Multi-Year Agreement with Trafigura and Acquires Kinertic to Power Carbon-Informed Commodities Trading

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